Chapter 227: Color me surprise
Stallus fell with the monster, breathing so hard she opened her mouth to do it, but the grin on her face couldn't be disguised as anything but a satisfied victory.
"That's one of the most intense fights I've had in my life," Alex said. Then he began to laugh, slapping his knees as he did so.
And right now, Catena finally got his chance as he slid towards the monster with a knife and began to cut away at its injured flesh, shooting Azaroth a look when he scraped away burnt flesh.
Azaroth allowed himself to feel a bit of satisfaction with the way things turned out. It wasn't easy, but they'd managed to kill two drakes so far, and that seemed the extent of their power because they were all hung dry.
They stood there for a while, and finally, Stallus moved closer to them with a strained smile. "What now? We can't continue into this place for at least some hours to get our energy back, and we can't stay here because the monster's body will attract bigger ones."
Azaroth understood her because right now, even a single stink wolf would do a lot of damage to them. They needed time to heal and regain their strength. "Let's get out of this place first."
Catena shot a look at the remaining monster's body, and then he reluctantly saved what he had already cut away in his ring, his knife included. And together with the others, they followed Azaroth.
They hadn't taken more than six steps when they froze to a stop. The hair on Azaroth rose, and he tilted his head just a bit before he suddenly jumped out of where he was, the others following his example a second late.
But they were too slow. Without any essence forge and their cores dry, they couldn't move out of the way quickly enough. Wind blades blasted out, cutting into the trees and tearing up the ground. The shockwave hit them and slammed them into the ground, small dagger-like winds cutting into their flesh.
A drake parted the trees. Scales of shimmering blue and green covered it, shining bright in the sun. Its long neck rose into the air, and yellow eyes gleamed at them.
Stallus swore. Not only because of the blue-green drake, another just dragged itself from the ground to their left, shaking dirt away from its stone body.
A chill swept through the clearing as a white-blue drake watched them between the lines of trees, frigid air coming out of it in waves.
Azaroth felt his blood turn to ice, and for the first time in years, his heart missed a beat. There was absolutely no way they could fight these monsters. It had taken all their energy and power just to defeat two of them, and they had taken damage for that.
Azaroth took a step backwards. He had to find a way out of this mess. They put their backs against each other as they watched the two drakes rise up and move into the clearing, yellow eyes set on them with cruel light.
"Is there anyone with an amazing plan to get out of this alive?" Stallus asked.
Catena swallowed. "At least they should let me taste that drake meat before they kill me. I don't want to waste such food."
Stallus snorted. "Somehow, I don't see the drakes doing that for you. I think you're about to become the food this time, Catena."
Alex narrowed his eyes, and his fists clenched. "This seems like a really painful way to go."
Azaroth didn't reply because he was already reaching deep inside his mind and touching the chaos core. His eyes mapped out the surroundings. With the essence in his chaos core, he should be able to get out of there. He'd just come back to confirm the others' deaths, but with the drakes' hungry eyes watching them, he doubted there'd be a single hair left.
Everyone seemed to pause, even the drakes, as if they were all thinking about what was going to happen next. Then the frost drake broke the silence by coming forward. The frost on its body crept over small plants and spread across the ground in a thin layer.
The others brought out their swords to give a final, useless fight while Azaroth waited. He'd be gone while they got busy with their futile battle. There was no way Azaroth wanted to die here, not when he still had a lot to do.
But then, impossibly, something happened. The wind changed, and everyone felt the slight dip of essence in the air, which usually meant someone was concentrating a massive amount of power into a single point.
The air cracked with bright yellow light that whooshed from somewhere. It came with an intense heat that dried up the air faster than should have been possible. The attack slammed into the frost drake's neck and bent it at different angles before the whole thing just fell off right at the drake's shoulder.
Drakes and Awakeners alike could only stare in surprise. At first, Azaroth thought it was from another drake, but the whooping laughter that followed said otherwise.
Everyone turned their attention to the sound. Impossible, Azaroth thought. Is that the sound of humans?
"Well, color me shades of surprise," Alex said with complete and utter bafflement. "This is one of the most impossible things happening right now."
Everyone agreed with that. Then they heard the voices coming closer.
"Do you see that? I killed it with just one shot! Honestly, I've been taking things out with one shot since I opened my third gate fully. I still have one more attack to use," a male voice said, dripping with excitement.
"Save it. You'll be out once you do that, so just let us take care of this one," a gruff voice said.
"Yes, Jove. This should be easy," a female voice replied.
They talked some more as if they hadn't just gained the attention of more than one drake. Azaroth wanted to know who they were.